The challenge here was to transform a creative piece of work from one media format to another.

I chose the oldest recording of a computer playing music. The computer was the (Ferranti) Manchester Mark 1 and the recording was made in 1951 at the University of Manchester by the BBC.

It is an amazing recording, and the evidence of the processes it underwent on its way towards becoming an mp3 can be found within the sound. The mp3 can be heard here.

Every audio event has a corresponding visual event: notes become words, voices become transcriptions, recording noise becomes negative space. The parallel events and processes are listed here.

The final resolution is web-based: the final images are available for the user to download and print here in much the same way as I originally downloaded the sound recording and played it at home.

The initial letterpress stage was recorded on video and the six print runs can be viewed here (short) or here (full).